


Time and Duty

by caras_galadhon (Galadriel)



Category: Eastern Promises (2007)
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-06-23
Updated: 2008-06-23
Packaged: 2017-10-19 14:10:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/201719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galadriel/pseuds/caras_galadhon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If there was one thing Kirill learned from his father, it was that family loyalty trumped all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time and Duty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Empy (Empyreus)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Empyreus/gifts), [Savageseraph](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Savageseraph/gifts), [Nikkie222](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Nikkie222).



> This story started life as a diversion written on Post-It Notes, and bloomed into something else. Written for Empy as a Belated Birthday gift (Happy Birthday!), for Nikkie222 because I've been promising her more in this fandom, and for Savageseraph because I said so. ♥

Kirill had never imagined himself stepping into his papa's shoes, not even as a little boy; not even once his papa was no longer in a position to rule and all the family's eyes turned to him. Even then he was sure he was just going through the motions, that it was only a matter of time before he was revealed as the pretender he knew himself to be. But the years had lengthened, spinning out and crumbling away, and while the mantle of king had not settled easily on his shoulders, his every moment was no longer plagued with the desire to shrug it completely off.

 _Long years change even the most unchangeable of men,_ Kolya had told him once, _forcing them to make choices they had never expected._ It was a hard lesson for Kirill to learn, but learn it he must, even in the midst of his darkest nightmare made truth. So it was with a heavy heart that he laid the missive down on his papa's desk, staring at the grooves in the wood that marked and marred the passage of his own life.

"He is no vor," the words turned to ash in his mouth, "Kill him, and cut off his stars."

His men nodded their consent, withdrawing from the study to set the wheels in motion, the task at hand now all but done.

Kirill ran his fingers through his hair, the grey at his temples coarse against his skin. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to blot out the memory of the night before, of familiar hands carefully carding through those self-same strands, a familiar voice low and soft in his ear. Remembered sights and sounds would be no comfort now, nor would the memory of skin on skin, warm and slick with sweat, of whispered affections exhaled in a rush of heat, of moans taken in and tasted.

Nikolai was right; long years change a man, and even lust and love fall by the wayside in service to duty. And if his hands shook at the thought of how they would soon be covered in his lover's blood, well, that was the price that time and duty required.


End file.
